


Battle Of The Kings

by giftheck



Category: Godzilla - All Media Types, Zootopia
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2019-03-25
Packaged: 2019-05-20 03:55:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14887152
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/giftheck/pseuds/giftheck
Summary: Set two years after the events of Zootopia. A nuclear meltdown in the country of Hinode results in the awakening of a legendary beast. The beast's awakening causes another to flee towards Zootopia. Can Zootopia survive an inevitable clash of the titans? And how will Nick and Judy cope? Crossover with Godzilla.





	1. The GULF

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my first Zootopia crossover! I haven’t much to say on this one because it’s kind of a much newer idea than Futures Past is, but I hope you enjoy it just the same.
> 
> Disclaimers: Zootopia and its characters belong to Disney. Godzilla, Shin Godzilla and their characters belong to Toho.

**The GULF**

_Bikini Atoll, 1954_

For months, the Animalians had been receiving reports from nuclear submarines in the Pawcific Ocean. They were constantly under attack by a massive creature. The creature would always target a specific spot on the submarines but would not actively try to eat any of the passengers on board.

What struck the Animalian government as odd was that the creature seemed to be drawn to the submarines because of their onboard nuclear reactors. It was these reactors that were always missing from the wreckages of the submarines.

The crew of one submarine, the _ASS Antares_ , had managed to take measurements of the creature before it tore into their submarine. It was described as being reptilian in appearance, with gills and large dorsal plates on its back. The _ASS Antares_ had launched torpedoes against the creature but had registered no damage to their target, before the Animalian government lost contact. Presumably, the submarine had been destroyed by whatever the creature was.

In light of the loss of a number of their military submarines, the Animalian government had prepared a plan: they were going to lure the creature to Bikini Atoll with a nuclear submarine. When it made landfall, they would then unleash a brand-new weapon upon it, hoping that it would be killed.

It seemed the plan was a success, as the moment the creature made landfall, Animalia launched its first ever dry-detonation hydrogen bomb. When the mushroom cloud cleared, the creature was gone, and the Animalians assumed they had killed it successfully.

Little did they know that the creature had not died: it had simply retreated into the ocean to hibernate, the nuclear energy from the missile too much for it to process.

And beyond that, the Animalians did not know one other thing: a sea reptile had been caught in the blast, and the nuclear explosion had begun a lengthy process of mutation on the creature…

******

_Zootopia, 2018_

If somebody had told the residents of Zootopia that there would be a giant fifty-metre-tall monster stomping through the streets, they would have been told they had watched too many sci-fi movies. But the scene that lay before Nick and Judy was no science fiction fantasy. It was a nightmare of reality.

It was chaos. Smoke poured from demolished and damaged buildings as the massive, lumbering creature slowly stomped its way through Savanna Central. The creature stood on two feet, had a flayed, raw-looking hide, with large, maple leaf-shaped dorsal plates running down its back. Its maw was filled with razor sharp, jagged teeth. Its eyes, which would have given the creature a comical appearance had it not been for its size, were large and resembled those of a fish. Gills ran down the sides of the creature’s neck, and a pair of tiny arms, just formed, protruded from the shoulders of the creature.

Nick and Judy had been called to evacuate Otterdam, which was on the creature’s projected path.

“How…?” Judy breathed, surveying the destruction caused by the gargantuan beast, “How did it get to this?”

As soon as Judy vocalised the thought, her radio blared to life.

“ _All units, we have received a sighting of something big headed for the Lion’s Tail._ ” Came an urgent voice.

“ _Outback Island calling for assistance! Creature sighting! This one’s much bigger!_ ”

“Oh no…” Judy gasped.

“ _Creature has made landfall!_ ”

“ _Gods above! It’s got to be double the size of the first one!_ ”

“ _It’s stopped moving! What’s it gonna do?_ ”

Judy looked towards the Lion’s Tail.

There it was. The massive creature towered above the smaller buildings on the outskirts of the district. It was glaring in their direction.

And then it let loose a roar that shook windows even in Otterdam. It was that powerful that Judy doubled over in pain and clutched her head as her sensitive ears blared in pain. Nick rushed to her, but anything he said was drowned out by the creature’s bellow.

_[SKREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-ooonk!](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1abPwlA_n8_cL7c5Ps0PAUD9lkee1mOPu/view?usp=sharing) _

******

_Kamata district, Janjira, Hinode, one week previously…_

If there was one thing that Doctor Ishiro Serizawa knew, it was that mammalkind was _not_ , in spite of its own conceptions, the highest-evolved order of creatures on the planet. The file he was reading was evidence of that.

Serizawa, a Hinodese Hare, was a scientist with a global organization named Monarch. Serizawa was born to Daisuke and Keiko Serizawa in 1945, the same year that the so-called Atomic Age began. Ironically, the dawn of that violent age would usher in a much more peaceful era where mammalkind would start to live in harmony, but little did the world know that Mother Nature had other plans for it. The more superstitious would suggest that what had started happening since was punishment for centuries of creating enemies out of themselves.

Monarch was a scientific organization dedicated to the study of hyperfauna – massive creatures that Japanese folklore referred to as ‘Kaijū’. It was established in the wake of a certain discovery in 1954.

The advent of nuclear-powered submarines and their trial runs in the Pawcific Ocean had drawn the attention of a massive, unidentified creature. The creature attacked submarines in the area, consuming the nuclear reactors on board. It all culminated in a plan to lure the unidentified creature (Monarch labelled each creature as a ‘MUTO’ – Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism) to Bikini Atoll in the Pawcific Ocean and kill it with a nuclear strike.

The file Serizawa was reading was evidence of that, but it was far from public knowledge.

The Hinodese had their own thoughts on what the creature was: ancient Hinodese folklore spoke of a gigantic reptile called ‘Gojira’. Very few mammals recalled the legend these days: the notion of a gigantic mammal-eating sea lizard would be absurd to the modern world, but in ancient times, such creatures were believed to have been worshipped as Gods. And for that very reason, Gojira had also adopted a second name: ‘Godzilla’.

Serizawa flipped open the file in front of him. He had been through this file many times, but always returned to it whenever a search for Gojira turned into a dead-end. He had to amend the file each time, but he always took care to read through it in case he missed something previously.

_OPERATION CASTLE BRAVO_

_Bikini Atoll, March 1, 1954._

_CLASSIFIED – MONARCH._

Serizawa flipped to the back of the file, which detailed the kaijū sighting in question:

_Reported Kaijū Sighting, Bikini Atoll, 1954._

_Codename: Gojira._

_Estimated height: 50 metres._

_Origin: A legend on Odo Island suggests that Gojira is an ancient sea kaijū that comes ashore to feed on mammalkind. According to that legend, natives to the island would sacrifice a child, often a girl, to Gojira in order to satisfy it and prevent it from coming ashore. Ancient cave paintings depict a gargantuan bipedal creature with dorsal spines. Evidently, the creature discovered in the Pawcific was_ not _feeding on the mammals of Odo Island, but instead chose to attack nuclear submarines. It is clear that Gojira feeds off radioactive energy and has been drawn from the depths of the seas by the advent of nuclear power._

_There is no doubt that the Animalians think they killed Gojira with the nuclear bomb they detonated at Bikini Atoll. We, however, believe that Gojira, overwhelmed by the energy expended by the explosion, had gone into hibernation and is somewhere beneath the sea, waiting for the right time to awaken again._

_Further exploration across the world has found the skeletons of very similar creatures, with lengths estimated to be in the ranges of 40 metres and 120 metres. The skeletons were dated to the Permian period. Without knowing exactly what gender Gojira is, or whether the skeletons belonged to males or females, there is currently no way to know whether Gojira is fully-grown. There is also a chance that Gojira’s size might be affected by the level of radiation it consumes: one would imagine that the levels of natural radiation in the Permian era were much higher and as such the Gojira species, which could be called Gojirasaurus, would have grown to gargantuan heights._

_If this species is declared officially, we would like to opt for the name ‘Gojirasaurus Nuclei Magna’._

Serizawa had been searching for Gojira for years. It was he who helped find the skeleton of a long-dead member of the Gojirasaurus family underneath a collapsed mine in the Philippines in 1999. However, the discovery did not provide any leads as to where Gojira itself might have gone.

A knock came at the door. Serizawa looked up: stood in the doorway was one of his pupils, Sora Byakko. Sora was a red fox who had been born with leucism, which had resulted in her fur becoming a pale cream, almost white colour: a true rarity in Hinode for sure. The fact that she was a fox had never once bothered Serizawa: he prized minds, not species. Monarch’s higher-ups had been somewhat less enthused, but Serizawa had personally vouched for her.

“Sorry to interrupt, Sensei,” Sora remarked, “But something has just happened at the Hitsujikōjō nuclear plant.”

Serizawa turned his full attention to her, taking his glasses off.

“What is it?” Serizawa replied, motioning for Sora to come in to his office.

“The power plant was running a live simulation of a power failure when one of the reactors began to melt down,” Sora stated. Serizawa stared hard at her.

“Gojira?” Serizawa asked.

“No sign,” Sora replied, “But the radiation the reactor is emitting…”

“It could draw Gojira out of hiding, yes,” Serizawa stood up. He glanced away, thinking to himself for a moment, before returning his attention to Sora.

“We need to monitor the situation,” Serizawa said, “The radiation levels will be lethal, but if Gojira draws close enough, it might absorb that radiation.”

“Will you need Yaban-kōhai?” Sora asked.

“Yes, fetch him,” Serizawa replied, “And don’t let him catch you calling him that…” he called out after Sora as she turned to leave, “You know how much he dislikes that name.”

“I say it out of affection, sensei,” Sora pouted.

“It might be best if you treat Hopps-san with a bit more respect while working,” Serizawa pointed out, “You know he doesn’t work as well when he’s irritated.”

Sora bowed before departing the room, leaving Serizawa to return to the file. He glanced at a photo, taken from one of the battleships in 1954, just prior to the Castle Bravo bomb struck. The photo showed a partially surfaced gigantic lizard with huge, spiked dorsal plates on its back.

“Gojira…” Serizawa said, “Will you reveal yourself again?”

******

_Pawcific Ocean_

Far beneath the ocean’s surface, something was heading towards the Hitsujikōjō meltdown site, drawn there by the radiation.

Despite Serizawa’s hopes, it was _not_ Gojira. The creature in question was much smaller, with a rounded head, protruding gills and flippers, as well as massive fish-eyes on its face. It had small dorsal spines on its back and a lengthy tail that terminated in a frill.

Once upon a time, the creature had been the very sea reptile

As it swam towards the meltdown, it drew the attention of something much, much bigger than itself. At first, it seemed to not notice the much larger predator behind it, but then, as if suddenly becoming aware, it swam around as a massive pair of jaws closed where the creature had been previously.

Swimming as fast as its flippers would allow, the creature turned away from the very thing that had drawn it there in the first place, instead heading out into the open ocean.

And Gojira, who viewed the entire ocean as its territory, turned around, intending to pursue it.

******

_Zootopia News Network report_

“ _This is Zootopia News Network, with Fabienne Growley.”_

_“Good morning. Today begins the first step of the denuclearisation of Zootopia’s famous climate wall, which has been running off the Zootopia Nuclear Facility’s power since its construction. As part of an initiative introduced by Mayor Leodore Lionheart, the climate wall is to be powered by a hydro-power plant situated on the former Cliffside Asylum site. Mayor Lionheart said that this was the first step in creating a much cleaner Zootopia. We’ll have more on this story later. In other news, George Lupus has announced he is selling LupusFilm, the studio behind famed film series Star Boars, to…”_

******

_Rainforest District, Zootopia_

It was the end of another long day of making the world a better place. Nick and Judy had helped to deflate a potential suicidal mammal situation in a City Centre hotel. A caracal had holed himself up in one of the rooms with a then-unknown weapon (which turned out to be a butter knife) and threatened to do some damage to himself. Nick was the one assigned to talking the caracal down, given his way with words.

After work, Nick and Judy had arranged to meet with Nick’s mother. Viola Wilde lived at 1955 Cypress Grove Lane, in an apartment built into the trunk of a massive tree. Nick had always listed that address as his official residence before meeting Judy, though at the time it had been years since he had been there. After the Night Howler case concluded, Judy had encouraged Nick to get back in touch with his mother, and they had reunited. She stood proudly in the stands at Nick’s graduation ceremony.

That had been well over a year ago, and a lot had happened. Leodore Lionheart had not only been released, but had been re-elected as mayor. Mammals previously not expected to become police officers with the ZPD had. There was even a weasel officer.

The biggest change for Nick and Judy was that, six months ago, they had started dating. They already lived as roommates in their shared Savanna Central apartment, which Nick had bought but had not used up until that point. It meant that Nick and Judy had spent a lot of time together, and one thing evidently lead to another. It had been a little complicated to work things out, their respective species notwithstanding. It was generally frowned upon for ZPD officers to date each other, but so long as there was no difference in rank, then it was not against the rules. Bogo had given them a lecture about remaining professional on the job and told them he didn’t care what they did out of uniform.

Nick, of course, had a snarky quip ready for that, and Judy had a shoulder punch ready for Nick.

Viola was one of the first to find out that Nick and Judy were an item, though she had professed to suspecting from the time Nick had introduced Judy to her. She didn’t care that Judy was a bunny. She saw the mammal who had turned her son’s life around for the better.

It had become a regular arrangement that once every week, Nick and Judy would go over to Viola’s apartment to visit.

Nick knocked on the front door. After a brief pause, it creaked open. There behind the door stood Viola. She looked younger than her 51 years, and had Judy not already known that Viola was Nick’s mother, she would have taken her to be Nick’s older sister.

“Nicholas! Judy!” Viola greeted the pair with an embrace.

“Hi, Mom,” Nick replied, trying not to let his smile get too big.

“Hello, Mrs. Wilde!” Judy beamed.

“Please call me Viola, Judy,” Viola smiled down at the rabbit. “Come on in!” She stepped out of their way and ushered them inside. As they did so, a delicious smell wafted from the kitchen.

******

After dinner was finished, and after Nick and Judy talked to Viola about how their week had gone, they bade Viola a good night and headed out of the door. Just as they reached Nick’s car, a red Herd Mustang, both their phones rang.

“Huh…” Nick remarked upon reading the caller ID. “Wanna answer it, Carrots? I’m kinda just thinking of ignoring it.”

“What could they be calling us for at this hour?” Judy wondered. She answered the call, putting it on loudspeaker so Nick could hear.

“This is Hopps.”

“ _Lieutenant, we need you and Lieutenant Wilde to come back to the Precinct,_ ” the voice of Leroy Wolfard came through.

“It’s our night off, Wolfard,” Judy frowned.

“ _Chief’s pulling everybody in,_ ” Wolfard explained. “ _Something exploded below Zootopia Sound and the Bunnyburrow Link Tunnel is taking in water._ ”

Judy straightened. Nick frowned.

“Terrorist?” Judy said.

“ _We don’t know yet,_ ” Wolfard confessed.

Nick and Judy glanced briefly at each other.

“We’ll be at the briefing soon,” Judy said before hanging up.

“Well, there goes our early night…” Nick lamented.

******

_ZPD Precinct One_

It took Nick and Judy roughly thirty minutes to get from Viola’s apartment to Precinct One, get changed, and find their seats in the Bullpen. The usual joking and banter of the officers seated in the Bullpen was absent. Instead, all officers were staring intently at the currently vacant podium. The side door opened and Chief Bogo stepped in, stomping his way towards the podium. There was none of the usual chanting or bumping of paws against desks.

“Alright…” Bogo said. “I don’t need to tell you why you’ve been called here. Two hours ago, an explosion was detected in Zootopia Sound, right above the Bunnyburrow Link line.”

“Any damage?” Trisha Fangmeyer, the tiger officer sitting on the end of the same row as Nick and Judy, asked.

“The roof of the tunnel was damaged, causing water to flood into the tunnel,” Bogo answered. “One of the shielded power transformers was destroyed.”

“Sir, wouldn’t it likely be terrorist activity?” Judy posited.

“We’re ruling nothing out but it would be an odd target if it was a terrorist act,” Bogo replied.

“Wouldn’t the ZBI be the better bet for this?” Judy asked.

“Until we know what we’re dealing with, we’re going to keep this in-house,” Bogo remarked.

“Maybe it’s a giant sea creature,” Nick suggested, sarcasm in his voice.

“Shut your mouth, Wilde!” Bogo replied.

“Sir… all due respect, but… Could this have not waited until morning?” Delgato yawned.

“I need some of you to assist the Outback Island Precinct in investigating, and the sooner that begins, the sooner we know what we’re dealing with. So, no, Delgato: this could not wait until morning,” Bogo shot Delgato a glare before returning to the docket he had in front of him.

“So,” Bogo said, “we need six officers to assist immediately. The Commissioner already chose which six of you would be best to go. Officers Snarlov, Higgins, Trunkaby, Wolfard, Fangmeyer, Delgato,” Delgato groaned quietly at the mention of his name, “and Grizzoli. Everybody else is dismissed, but keep your phones switched on. We don’t know how this situation will develop.”

Chairs scraped as the officers assembled dispersed. Nick and Judy hopped off theirs. Judy cast Nick a look.

“Really, Slick? Giant sea creature?” Judy smirked.

“What? Never seen _20,000 Leagues Under the Sea_?” Nick answered.

“I’m not old.” Judy grinned.

“I’ll have you know, you young whippersnapper, that in my day…” Nick said, hunching slightly and giving his best impression of an old fox.

“That’s an awful impression,” Judy laughed.

“My impressions are excellent, thank you,” Nick replied in a falsely haughty manner.

******

The following morning, Judy was awoken by her phone’s belting out of _Try Everything_. Pushing her ear up from over her eye, she took the phone from her nightstand and blearily looked at it.

There was a message with a single link. She clicked the link as she rubbed her eyes. It took a moment for her to fully digest what it was she was seeing.

She sat up, turned around and shook Nick gently.

“Nick, wake up…” Judy said.

“Five more minutes…” Nick groaned.

“This is important,” Judy replied. Nick slowly sat up and rubbed his own eyes as he looked at Judy’s phone.

On the phone’s display was a ZNN news report. But the video at the head of the article was what drew Nick’s attention.

The video was evidently taken from the shores of Outback Island, looking out over Zootopia Sound.

And emerging from the surface of Zootopia Sound was a massive tail-like appendage with a frayed end.

“Carrots, that’s gotta be some sort of prank,” Nick yawned.

As if defying Nick’s assessment, Judy’s phone rang. It was from the ZPD. Judy answered it on loudspeaker.

“This is Hopps,” Judy answered.

“ _I take it you’ve seen the news,_ ” Bogo’s voice said.

“I take it that this is some sort of hustle,” Nick murmured.

“ _Wrong, Wilde, it’s real. That thing… that creature has even moved closer to shore since that video was taken in the early hours. There are concerns it could beach itself. Get ready for a long day, because I’m calling every officer in._ ”

******

_Monarch file: Giant Unidentified Life Form._

_Estimated size: Accurate readings have yet to be taken._

_Unique characteristics: During our tracking of it, it appears that GULF has physically changed, suggesting the ability to adapt dependant on its environment. At the present it appears to be mindlessly swimming towards sources of radiation, but it also appears to be swimming away from something. Perhaps some much larger predator. Gills like a frilled shark extend from the sides of its neck suggesting that, at current, it cannot breathe above the surface._

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that’s it for the introduction to this story!
> 
> Some behind the scenes things:
> 
> -The events of the story take place two years after Zootopia’s main events.  
> -Unlike Futures Past, which creates an entirely new origin for Nick, Nick’s origins here are pretty close to his Reconciliation self. Obviously, there will be some differences to how his future unfolds though. Giant radioactive monsters tend to do that ^^ I haven’t yet decided whether hybridization is possible in this universe, but again: giant radioactive monsters that shouldn’t be able to exist anyway.  
> -Godzilla Prime (as I’m calling him internally) is indeed based off the 2014 Godzilla with very little alteration: the only real change I’ve made is that in the 2014 film, Godzilla appears to consistently be 108 metres in height, whereas here I’ve got it so that when Godzilla appeared in 1954, it was 50 metres in height – consistent with the version of Godzilla from the 1954 film. In the present day it has grown to 108 metres. It also lacked its atomic breath up until the Castle Bravo bomb.  
> -I’ve described Shin Godzilla’s first form in this chapter. You can find a sketch of it on my DeviantArt account.
> 
> Just a quick addendum:
> 
> -MUTO and GULF: Monarch assigns the title 'MUTO' to unnamed creatures that can or have made landfall. As Shin Godzilla is still seaborne by the end of this chapter, it does not apply to Monarch's criteria of MUTO, so they assign it the title 'GULF'.


	2. Ashore

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It has been a long time since this story last got updated! I must confess that I wanted to focus on Futures Past more as that’s gotten more attention, and I’ve been busy with university work, but now we’re getting closer to the release date of a new Godzilla film, I find myself drawn back to this story.  
> I hope you all enjoyed the revamped first chapter! It fits in a whole load better with what I wanted to do.  
> Shoutouts to those who reviewed the new version:
> 
> FFN: seakard  
> AO3: DankMasterT, x_uve  
> DeviantArt: Neo730, Cimar-WildeHopps
> 
> Side note: The best piece of music to listen to for this chapter would be Persecution of the Masses from the official soundtrack to Shin Godzilla. For obvious reasons, a large chunk of this part of the story is directly inspired by the film, so I can think of no other score.

**Ashore**

“ _Good morning, Zootopia. I’m Peter Moosebridge, bringing you the latest in breaking news. The unidentified creature off the coast of Outback Island has started to make its way towards the Bayou Canal. Mayor Lionheart has called a press conference for later this afternoon to assure the public that City Hall is doing all it can…_ ”

“What’s he gonna do? Get the timber wolves to capture it and lock it in Cliffside?” Nick remarked as he turned away from the television in Precinct One’s café.

All ZPD officers had been called in to ensure order was kept. As was always the case, the usual band of ‘End Timers’ had started declaring the creature as the first sign of a coming apocalypse, and the ZPD had to keep them under control before their hysteria spread.

“Come on, Slick,” Judy remarked, pulling Nick away from the television. “Let’s get to briefing before Bogo has our hides.”

The pair wandered from the café into the bullpen where other officers were waiting. The subdued atmosphere from the previous day had subsided a little, but there was still an air of restraint in the bullpen.

“Sheesh, a gigantic tail erupts from Zootopia Sound and everybody acts like it’s a funeral,” Nick remarked as he clambered into his seat.

“Probably because nobody knows what we’re going to do about it,” Judy pointed out as she joined him.

The side door opened, and Bogo entered the room, taking his position up the top of the podium. He placed his clipboard down and put his glasses on.

“The only item on the docket this morning is ensuring that there will not be any panic caused by the appearance of this… creature,” Bogo remarked. “I’ll be assigning you in pairs or groups to parts of the District to ensure that panic is kept to a minimum. So, assignments: Officers Snarlov, Higgins and Rhinowitz: Haymarket. Officers Wolfard, Fangmeyer and Delgato: Gnu York. Officers Trunkaby, Pennington and Jackson: Acorn Heights. Officers Grizzoli and Wolfowitz: Vole Garden. Officers Hopps and Wilde: Otterdam. Dismissed!”

 

******

_Otterdam_

 

Thankfully, Nick and Judy had been given the quiet part of the city centre, though that didn’t mean there was no panic. Otterdam was situated close to the heart of Zootopia, in the Downtown area. Canals ran through the district like veins. Smaller mammals lived in Otterdam – as the name would suggest, otters often dwelled there, but there were beavers, stoats and hares in the community as well.

“I swear! That creature’s gonna come ashore and rain fire on us!”

Nick had been talking to an old, hysterical beaver stood on one street corner while Judy kept onlookers away.

“Reggie, the thing’s in the water,” Nick pointed out. “It’s not ashore, and I doubt it’s gonna come ashore either.”

“You didn’t see what I saw!” Reggie protested.

“We all know about your tales of the fifties,” Nick responded.

“I was there!” Reggie protested. “I saw the thing rise from the ocean before they tried to blow it sky high! Why is the only mammal that believes me is Badge?”

“Well, that crazy old honey badger also believes in the ‘cudspiracy’,” Nick pointed out.

“That crazy sheep Bellwether did the Night Howlers, didn’t she? Maybe she’s not as cracked as everybody makes out!” Reggie said.

Nick eventually got Reggie to move on, and he and Judy returned to their squad car. Judy turned the ignition on and pulled out of their parking space just as the radio blared to life.

“ _All units, the unknown creature has started travelling up the Bayou Canal,_ ” came the worried voice of Clawhauser.

“A creature that size? That’s going to cause floods…” Judy remarked.

“ _We’re leaving Gnu York and evacuating the areas surrounding the shore,_ ” the voice of Officer Fangmeyer announced. “ _Officers from Sahara Square are evacuating the shore there._ ”

“Officer Hopps to Officer Fangmeyer. Do you require assistance?” Judy picked up the radio.

“ _No. We’ve gotten assistance from officers remaining in the east side of the District, as well as the Zootopia Fire Service._ ”

“10-4,” Judy acknowledged. She slotted the radio back into the compartment. “We’ll continue patrolling. If things get too bad, we’ll start getting Otterdam evacuated.”

“Joy,” Nick replied dully. “Wonder how many more paranoids we’re going to meet today. Maybe we’ll bump into Badge too. That’d top our day.”

“I keep forgetting you’re Mr. I-know-everybody,” Judy remarked. “Who _is_ this Badge?”

“Ah, Carrots, you don’t ever want to open _that_ can of worms,” Nick said smugly. “Let’s just say that she was celebrating for days when it came out about Dawn Bellwether.”

“Huh?” Judy raised an eyebrow curiously.

“Think Reggie was a few carrots short of a carrot farm?” Nick remarked, which earned him a light punch from Judy.

“Har, har,” Judy responded.

“My point is, Honey Badger thinks that the sheep are trying to take over the world,” Nick explained. “Well, at least her niece is a bit more balanced… You remember her, right?”

“Uh, no?” Judy glanced at Nick.

“Sure you do, Carrots,” Nick said. “After all, we arrested her.”

Judy continued staring at Nick with confusion, before realisation dawned on her.

“Oh! She was with Lionheart! She was the one trying to get him to go public with the savage mammals!” Judy exclaimed.

“Give Carrots her carrots!” Nick grinned, earning another light punch.

Judy’s phone chimed with the tune from ‘Try Everything’. She fished it out from her belt.

“You ever going to change that?” Nick raised an eyebrow.

“Nope,” Judy grinned. She checked the screen.

“Parents?” Nick asked.

“Yup,” Judy sighed, before swiping across to answer.

“ _Judy! Thank goodness!_ ” Bonnie’s stressed voice rang out.

“Hi, Mom!” Judy waved, putting on a false grin.

“ _It’s all over the news! Are you alright?_ ”

“You mean the flooding in Bayou Canal? We’re keeping an eye on it.”

“ _They say that it’s getting worse! And there’s footage of a tail coming from the water!_ ”

“If you’re about to ask me to come home, Mom…” Judy began.

“ _Which you should!_ ” came the voice of Stu Hopps as he appeared on the screen.

“I’m not going to abandon Zootopia when it needs me,” Judy insisted.

“ _It’s too dangerous there! And to think I was worried about you being in the big city before… Is Nick there? Maybe I can get him to talk some sense into you!_ ” Stu said.

“Nobody’s talking any ‘sense’ into me, Dad,” Judy frowned. “And Nick knows that I wouldn’t abandon the mammals of the city to save myself.”

******

_City Hall_

“This is a disaster…” Lionheart pulled a paw through the top of his mane as he watched live news footage of the Bayou Canal flooding. The footage clearly showed a colossal tail and the arched back of some kind of aquatic creature. Spiked spines emerged from its back.

“The ZPD has finished evacuating the areas surrounding Bayou Canal, but we don’t have any idea where this creature is going,” one of Lionheart’s caribou assistants stated.

“Options?” Lionheart asked.

“We could try to drive it off into the ocean,” a bison adviser suggested.

“With what?” Lionheart raised an eyebrow.

“We may have to request military support in that regard,” the bison answered.

“Weapons in the city? Not so long as I’m Mayor!” Lionheart raised his voice.

“But, sir…”

“Any other suggestions for driving this thing off besides opening fire on it and maybe causing the city and its residents unnecessary damage?”

The phone on Lionheart’s desk rang. Lionheart pressed the answer button.

“ _Sir, there’s a Doctor Serizawa on behalf of Monarch on the line,_ ” came the voice of Lionheart’s secretary.

“Whoever he is, tell him I have something more important to deal with right now,” Lionheart responded, ending the call.

“Sir, the use of military equipment to deal with this is…” the bison adviser began.

“Absolutely out of the question,” Lionheart finished. “And your insistence makes me wonder if you’re the type to go after a fly with a bazooka.”

The bison adviser opened his mouth and then shut it again.

“What are the chances of this thing coming ashore?” Lionheart asked.

“I’d guess slim,” a deer advisor answered. “We’ve been in touch with the marine biologists at Zootopia Aquarium. They estimate it to be much longer than the largest recorded mammal, the blue whale, and when they strand themselves, they’re often crushed by their own weight. If it were to come ashore, it would most likely suffer the same fate.”

“That’s little reassurance if it’s still causing damage by swimming up the Bayou Canal,” Lionheart frowned.

“Sir, the first thing we must do is reassure the public,” the deer advisor suggested. “They’re going to be panicked. The last thing we need now is a stampede in Savanna Central.”

“Agreed,” Lionheart nodded.

******

_Zootopia News Network report_

_“Good afternoon, Zootopia, this is Zootopia News Network. I’m Peter Moosebridge.”_

_“And I’m Fabienne Growley, bringing you the latest updates in Zootopia.”_

_“The unidentified creature causing flooding in Savanna Central has currently come to a stop. The damage caused so far is estimated to total in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Mayor Leodore Lionheart has called a press conference, which we will go to now.”_

_“Good afternoon, fellow Zootopians. As you are all aware, an unidentified creature surfaced in Zootopia Sound yesterday evening, causing damage to the Bunnyburrow Link line. Since then, it has headed towards Bayou Bay and made its way up the Bayou Canal, causing flooding to the surrounding areas in Savanna Central. Since then it appears to have stopped moving completely as the canal narrows. We have it on good authority that the creature will not be able to come onto land, as its large mass would mean that it would be crushed under its weight. Let me say it again: there is no cause to be alarmed. The creature can’t come ashore, and the damage wrought by it will be repaired.”_

_“We’ll have to come back to the press conference. We have just received some breaking news that the creature has come ashore in Savanna Central. We’ll have more on this story as it unfolds…_ ”

******

_Savanna Central_

It was chaos. Mammals of all shapes and sizes were running in a stampede from the thing that was trudging along the streets of Savanna Central after them, its massive form crushing and casting aside cars, signs, lampposts and anything else in its way. The huge creature, with its large eyes and gaping maw filled with sharp teeth, would almost have looked comical if it wasn’t for the seriousness of the situation. Sharp, jagged spines in three columns lined its back. The creature’s long tail whipped around behind it as it moved. As it staggered along, steaming hot blood leaked from its overlarge gills.

As the streets in its path became narrower, the creature’s mass started tearing chunks out of buildings. It wasn’t long before it managed to squeeze its way into the centre of Savanna Central. Mammals fled as the lumbering creature turned itself towards a road beside Precinct One, its neck moving loosely from side to side as it shuffled towards its destination.

As it passed Precinct One, its tail whipped through the side of the building.

******

“ _All officers! We have a… we have… heck, we don’t HAVE a code for a giant monster roaming the streets!_ ” came the panicked voice of Clawhauser.

“… what are _we_ supposed to do?” Nick frowned.

“Clawhauser, can you tell us where it’s going, so we can get people evacuated before it gets there?” Judy picked up the radio receiver.

A loud thud came over the radio, followed by static.

“Clawhauser!” Judy yelled.

There was no answer. Judy glanced at Nick.

“Well, we gotta do what we gotta do,” Nick said.

“We don’t know where it’s going,” Judy replied. “We can’t evacuate an entire district!”

The radio crackled back to life.

“ _… Hopps? Hopps!_ ” The voice that came through the radio was not Clawhauser’s.

“Chief Bogo!” Judy picked the radio up. “What happened? We need to know what to do.”

“ _Damn thing’s tail took out the side of the building,_ ” Bogo explained. “ _It’s heading towards Otterdam._ ”

“We can begin evacuation,” Hopps suggested.

“ _Do it,_ ” was Bogo’s answer.

******

_Zootopia News Network, Live Report_

_“This is Fabienne Growley, reporting live from the ZNN chopper above Savanna Central, as the gigantic unknown creature is tearing through the district. It’s currently making its way through Troop Street, on a course towards Otterdam. ZPD is trying to evacuate the area in the creature’s path. In spite of the devastation so far, the Mayor has put out a statement urging Zootopians to remain calm._ ”

******

The creature reached the end of Troop Street to find a massive apartment block in its way. Instead of trying to turn its lumbering mass in another direction, it raised its lulling head up the side of the building and began to climb it.

The building was not designed to take 150 tons of weight, and as a result, the moment the creature reached the top, it collapsed.

The creature was completely unfazed by the destruction it had just wrought and continued along its path, not caring for any obstacle in its way.

Then, without warning, it stopped moving. Shakily, it hauled itself upright.

It then collapsed to the ground with a gigantic thud.

******

_City Hall_

Lionheart watched the news feed live as the creature collapsed to the ground.

“It’s stopped moving,” Lionheart said. “Hopefully it’s exhausted itself.”

“We don’t know what we’re dealing with, sir,” his deer advisor told him.

Lionheart’s phone rang. He answered.

“ _Sir, Doctor Ishiro Serizawa from Monarch is here to see you._ ”

“I didn’t make any appointments with whoever this guy is, so you tell him I have more important-”

“ _He says he’s here about the creature in Savanna Central._ ”

Lionheart gritted his teeth.

“Fine. Send him up,” Lionheart said finally, returning his attention to the television screen.

******

Little did Lionheart realise that the creature had not stopped moving because it was exhausted.

The air surrounding it grew hotter as it began to stir. It began to stand upright again, its legs shaking violently as it did so. As it did, it started to grow in mass. Its dorsal plates grew larger and more numerous. Its legs grew larger and sturdier. Its gills shrivelled. Out of its shoulder stubs grew tiny arms.

As it stood upright, it let out a bellowing roar.

_[AAAUREOOOONK!](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1XYZL-wZuWpLKOsQ1wf_4VZePUGenewLA) _

******

Judy clutched her ears as the roar echoed throughout the district. Even Nick winced upon hearing how loud it was.

“Carrots! Are you alright?” Nick leaned over to her.

As he did so, the cruiser shook. Looking up, Nick could see the creature, which looked to stand over fifty metres tall, taking steps towards them. Each step it took shook the earth. As before, the creature took no care in what it was stepping on or demolishing in its path, but its eerie, large-eyed gaze stared straight ahead towards the city centre.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That’s it for this chapter! Sorry for it taking so long to get out. This chapter also brings us right back to the start of chapter 1, so we can proceed from there.  
> For those of you viewing on AO3 and DeviantArt, I’m trying something a little bit different with this story. You may notice that the creature’s roar here is underlined. That’s because I’ve linked it to the sound effect I’m hearing when writing this. I went back and did the same with Godzilla’s roar in the previous chapter. Tell me what you think! Does it work? Unfortunately, FFN does not allow you to do that, so I apologise to my readers there.


End file.
